Life Feels Fuller When Not Overflowing With Stuff

Dear Elaine: In addition to getting your advice, I always enjoy reading your column to hear how other people are handling the simplification process.

I first picked up your book “Simplify Your Life” when I was out of my home for several months for earthquake repairs. It was a good time to read it. My husband and I had recently downsized from 3,000 square feet to about 1,700 square feet. We had begun to examine just how much we were willing to maintain in our lives: house, yard, pool, cars, things, relationships and so forth.

I also noticed what a relief it was to live with so much less during the repairs. Everything we owned was in storage except for a few clothes, and life was so much less complicated.

It seems that sometimes things have to get almost too tiring and unbearable before one decides to give them up. I don’t miss the lawn, the pool, the big house, the big handbag, the nail polish, the holidays, the store credit cards, the expensive restaurants with pretentious food, soft drinks, a lot of people, a lot of messages on the answering machine (I love to come home and see the number 0), pantyhose, high heels and events that really don’t interest me.

We don’t live like monks, and we’ll probably never have a minimalist, Zen-like existence, but we did make some rather significant changes that have made us feel better. Although we still need to simplify in other areas that are yet unconquered, last fall we saw just how far we have come.

We were on a corporate trip to Italy for a week, and at the airport I noticed how many bags other couples had between them--roughly eight to 10. We had four between us, and we probably could have kept it to two or three if we hadn’t been required to dress for a black-tie evening.

When I first began to have these stirrings about simplifying, I actually felt sort of guilty. I thought maybe I was just becoming cheap, antisocial, lazy and ungrateful for all I had.

Somehow I had come to believe that to have a full life you had to have a very full day, a full Filofax, a full address book, full closets, full cupboards, full everything.

I now feel that the most worthwhile assets are health, peace, quiet, time and being with people who are genuinely decent. I’ve found that less really is more.

--J.S.G., SANTA MONICA

Dear J.S.G.: Amen.

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Elaine St. James is the author of “Simplify Your Life” and “Simplify Your Life With Kids.” For questions or comments, write to her in care of Universal Press Syndicate, 4520 Main St., Kansas City, MO 64111 or e-mail her at estjames@silcom.com.